Rotary internal combustion engine



United States Patent Inventor Louis A. Dionisio Mastic Beach, NY. Appl. No. 711,338 Filed Mar. 7, 1968 Patented Dec. 29, 1970 Assignee Peter F. Casella Lewiston, N.Y. a part interest ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE 6 Claims, 1 Drawing Fig.

Int. Cl. F02b 53/08 Field of Search 123/45,

45A; 103/157; 123/8(MS), 16; 230/173 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/ 1 921 Moore l23/45A 6/1946 Davis et a]. 123/45A 6/1949 Burrough 123/45 2/1960 Boyer 103/157 7/1876 Durre.. 103/157 8/1918 Smiley..... 123/8(MS) 4/1938 Buckbee..... 123/8(MS) 11/1940 Manseau 103/157(X) Primary Examiner-A11an D. Herrmann Attorney-Peter F. Casella ABSTRACT: A supercharged rotary internal combustion engine having a rotary engine means fixed to a drive shaft and a compressor comprised of two pistons axially and slidably mounted on said drive shaft and driven by said rotary engine means.

PATENTE-Dutczmm a /v///// v ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE The present invention relates to an improved rotary internal combustion engine.

Present day reciprocating internal combustion engines are inefficient. For every cycle (intake, compression, combustion, exhaust) they provide only one power stroke per piston; and two shaft revolutions are required to generate this one power stroke from the piston. These engines, in order to produce one or more power strokes per shaft revolution, require a multiplicity of pistons each of which'has to be housed in a separate cylinder. These engines, thus, must have many moving parts and be costly, large, and heavy; consequently they produce a relatively low amount of horsepower per revolution of the shaft per pound of engine weight. The fact that their horsepower/r.p.m./pound of engine weight ratio is low dictates that they be run at a very high level of revolutions per minute; but so running these engines is not conducive to long engine life.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple, economical, efficient internal combustion engine which can produce many power strokes per piston per shaft revolution.

In accordance with this invention there is provided an internal combustion device comprising a unitary housing; an internal combustion engine within said housing having a drive shaft, inlet means, outlet means, and ignition means; a compressor means within said housing for supplying compressed combustion fluid to said internal combustion engine, said compressor means being mounted on said drive shaft and being driven by said internal combustion engine.

Reference may be had to FIG. 1, which is a schematic view of one of the embodiments of my invention. As is shown thereon, the numeral 1 designates a rotary type internal combustion engine which could be of the sliding vane, moveable abutment or other generally known variety. The rotor 4 of the rotary engine is enclosed by the stationary housing 2 and keyed for rotation with the drive shaft 3.

Axially disposed on either side of rotor assembly 4 are cylindrical stator members 5 which are suitably fixed to the housing 2 and which rotatably support the drive shaft 3 and rotor assembly 4. The stator members are provided with conventional side ports in the fonn of cutouts which communicate with corresponding ports in the rotor at selected points during rotation. The housing 2 is also provided with an exhaust port Z which communicates with the rotor assembly 4 at selected points during rotation. Suitable bearing and sealing means are provided as known in the art.

The housing 2 is also provided with suitable air intake, fuel intake, and ignition means connections generally shown at 6, 7, and 8, respectively. The air and fuel connections are provided with check valve means 9 which permits fluid flow into the rotary engine but prevents flow therefrom.

The novel air-fuel compression means are shown generally at 10. Said compressor means comprises a pair of circular disc-shaped pistons 11 which are axially slideably mounted on drive shaft 3. Pistons 11 may be keyed to drive shaft 3 (as shown at 12). The pistons 11 have an outside diameter slightly less than the inside diameter of the housing 2 and are provided with suitable peripheral sealing means (not shown) enabling said pistons to slide axially upon the drive shaft within the housing in gas tight relationship thereto. The pistons are limited in axial mobility outwardly by the stops 14 (end stators not shown) and inwardly by abutment with the outward face surfaces of the stator members 5.

Each piston member is biased inwardly toward said stator members by coil spring means, hydraulically driven means (not shown), air compressed means or the like. Outward movement of the pistons is produced by cam and follower means shown at 15 and 16. In the preferred embodiment, sinusoidal camming surfaces 15 are beveled in the outer edges of the cylindrical housing 2 and each piston 11 is provided with a pinlike follower member 16 which, upon shaft rotation, follows the contour of the camming surface 15 and provides for axial reciprocation of the pistons on the drive shaft. The spring means 13 continuously urges the follower member against the camming surface. A suitable fluid compression means is illustrated in the drawing wherein 19 is a compressed air chamber within a housing extension 17 of the unitary housing 1, the housing 17 is provided with a sealing means 18 permitting free rotation of the axle 3 and the housing 1 is provided with a cylindrical liner 20 to prevent leakage between reciprocating piston 11 and housing 1.

The rotary internal combustion engine of this invention operates in the following manner: 0 upon starting, the drive shaft 3 is driven by an electric starter motor or crank in accordance with common practice; 12 as the drive shaft rotates, the compressor pistons 11 move outwardly away from the stators 5 under the action of the cam and follower means 15 and 16, thereby creating a low pressure area in the cavity W fonned between said pistons and stators; 0 fuel and air are drawn into said cavities through intake means 6 and 7; d continued rotation of the drive shaft causes the pistons 11 to move inwardly under the influence of the springs 13, thereby compressing the air-fuel mixture trapped within the cavities; e when the pistons have reached the limit of inward travel and the air-fuel mixture is highly compressed, said mixture is admitted to the interior of said rotor through the stator and rotor side ports X and Y which have become aligned; f with continued rotation, the stator and rotor ports disalign, and the highly compressed combustible air-fuel mixture is trapped within the rotor assembly wherein it is ignited by the ignition means 8, producing useful torque driving power and rotation of the rotor assembly; and g after combustion, the burned mixture is exhausted through exhaust port means 2, completing the cycle. I claim: 1. An internal combustion engine comprising: a unitary housing; inlet means in said housing; outlet means in said housing; a drive shaft passing through said housing; rotor means fixed to said drive shaft with said housing and stators enclosing said rotor supporting said drive shaft;

compressor means for supplying compressed combustion fluid within said housing to said internal combustion engine, said compressor means comprising pistons driven by said internal combustion engine, said pistons mounted on said drive shaft for rotation therewith and axially slideable thereon; and

fluid compression means mounted on said drive shaft for reciprocating said compressor means along said drive shaft.

2. An internal combustion engine as defined by claim 1 wherein the pistons are keyed to the drive shaft.

3. The internal combustion engine of claim 1, wherein said pistons are biased inwardly toward said stator means.

4. The internal combustion engine of claim 3, wherein said stator means is comprised of cylindrical stator members, and wherein said stator members are provided with side ports which communicate with corresponding ports provided in the rotor at selected points during rotation.

5. The internal combustion engine of claim 4, wherein outward movement of said pistons is provided by cam and follower means.

6. An internal combustion engine comprising:

a unitary housing;

inlet means within said housing;

outlet means within said housing;

a drive shaft passing through said housing;

rotor means fixed to said drive shaft for rotation therewith;

stator means fixed with said housing and supporting said drive shaft;

compressor means for supplying compressed combustion fluid within said housing to said internal combustion engine, said compressor means comprising pistons driven by said internal combustion engine, said pistons mounted on said drive shaft for rotation therewith and axially slideably keyed thereto; and

spring means mounted on said drive shaft for reciprocating said compressor means along said drive shaft. 

